Raphaël Bastide
Nest
Website

Art Swap with Bruno Gola

Bruno Gola found a folder on his old computer that contained files of a live performance he did a long time ago. He passed on a file from SuperCollider, the instrument used during the performance, to Raphaël Bastide. SuperCollider is a software that creates sound compositions in real-time through coding. Bastide also received an MP3 file, which Gola had created with the help of the software. Since Bastide did not want to install SuperCollider especially for the project, he worked exclusively with this audio file during the upcycling.

First, Bastide composed new audio tracks to surround the breakbeat from Gola’s concert. Then he built a ‘nest’ for them — a space on his server located outside of major platforms, and thus protected from the internet’s commercial logic. The term ‘nesting’ in computer science refers to the organization of information either in layers or inside one another. Like an urban bird’s nest, which is a mixture of natural and artificial materials, Bastide’s nest is also a collage. His interactive website combines various visual elements, such as default colour gradients, photos of his compost, and audio controls. When you click on the website’s features, a new world opens up consisting of sound and image fragments, which, like in a kaleidoscope, keeps on shuffling with each new movement.

Raphaël Bastide lives and works in Montreuil and teaches at the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts and the École nationale supérieure des arts décoratifs in Paris. He develops educational, integrative approaches and convivial technology that is tried out publicly and made available via free software. He is part of the Velvetyne collective and the initiator of Pre Post Print.